Belen
A Greek name meaning Bethlehem, literally "house of bread". It came to Poland by way of Spanish and stays rare: only 32 women carry it, so most Poles have never met one.
Belen Pronunciation
Belen is pronounced BE-len (/ˈbɛlɛn/).
What Belen means
Where Belen comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Belén comes from Bethlehem, the town whose name in Hebrew, Beit Lehem, means "house of bread." Greek carried the word forward as Baithleem before Spanish smoothed it into Belén. The meaning stayed literal at the root. House of bread, a place on the map.
In Spain the name honors Nuestra Señora de Belén, Our Lady of Bethlehem, a Marian title tied to the nativity. The same word, belén, is what Spanish speakers call the Christmas crib set out in churches and homes. A girl named Belén shares her name with a scene of straw and small painted figures.
Poland knows the town as Betlejem, so the Polish gloss reads dom chleba. Belén has no diminutive here, no cross-gender pair. It stands as one form. On a class register in Kraków it would sit plain among the Zuzannas.
The origin points to one town, not one virtue. Belén means Bethlehem.
How many people are named Belen
1 in 704495 women in Poland is named Belen. 32 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #7100 among female names.
Belen as a middle name
Belen is a first name for 32 women in Poland and a middle name for another 91, a 26/74 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 697th, between Kasia (92) and Betina (91).
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#695 Aria92
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#696 Kasia92
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#697 Belen91
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#698 Betina91
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#699 Chelsea91